Women's History Month: Addie Was A Hello Girl

 Imagine that your job is a telephone operator with a local telephone company. But the era is around the turn of the twentieth century, those early days of the telephone. You sit on a stool before a giant switchboard with wires everywhere. You must learn where those wires go to connect caller to caller. That was Adeline "Addie" Cardwell’s occupation. Her death certificate lists her as a “Hello Girl” for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. She lived in McDonald County, in Southwestern Missouri. She was a mere twenty-four years old, born in 1890, and died in 1915. Adeline is a distant relative in one of my family trees. 

The term “Hello Girls” is early-day slang for the American bilingual switchboard operators in World War I and any switchboard operators working for telephone companies in our nation.  

It all started with World War I and General John J. Pershing's plea to improve communication between America and European countries. In 1917, the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit was formed to accomplish this feat. Thousands of women applied, but only 450 were selected; all had to be bilingual in French and English and recruited from the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). 

 The selected women went through training at Fort Franklin in Maryland, under the leadership of Chief Operator Grace Banker, then were sworn into the U.S. Army Signal Corps. The training consisted of military training and radio and switchboard operator training. They were given navy blue uniforms with dog tags, steel helmets, and gas masks. Later, their uniforms changed to olive green. 

The Army Signal Corps women became known as “Hello Girls.” They were sent to numerous locations in Europe during the war. They relayed messages in military code about troop movements and supplies. They functioned as interpreters between the French and American military units. 

 One group of Hello Girls worked during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. That was the final Allied push of World War I. The women briefly abandoned their positions at their switchboard when their barracks caught on fire but returned immediately after the flames were extinguished. 

 After the Armistice, although the women qualified for veteran status, it took years for them to be recognized. From 1930 to 1948, Merle Egan Anderson introduced bills into Congress and finally helped the Hello Girls gain the respect they earned. In 1979, Congress added an amendment to the GI Bill Improvement Act, granting women veterans benefits, honorable discharges, and World War I victory medals. 

 Numerous websites are dedicated to the history of the Signal Corps and the Hello Girls, outlining several women and their biographies. Michelle Christides wrote her mother’s oral history of her time served in the war as a Hello Girl. 

Here is a vintage photo of a small telephone company and its Hello Girls that I bought on Etsy from BrassMouse. It's in my collection now. 

 As telephone wires were strung on poles nationwide, telephones became a favorite new gadget for homes and businesses. Switchboards needed operators, which led to hiring women for that occupation. 

 The Home Telephone Company arrived in Joplin, Missouri, in 1902, and the Joplin telephone switchboard operators answered the calls by saying, “Hello Central.” The operators knew various daily information, ranging from the weather to train schedules, and they gave that information to customers who rang up Central. Thirty-five women directed calls in the city; by estimation, they took 16,000 daily calls.  

 In 1910, the Joplin News-Herald ran a story about women working as Hello Girls at the switchboard of the Home Telephone Company. The telephone operators worked long hours and even holidays but were treated to a lunchroom that served free meals. The telephone company also provided lockers, a restroom, and baths for their workers. 

 Although Addie didn’t work for the Signal Corps, she is vital in her own way. Her legacy is essential to share with others. She helped implement new technology that arrived in Southwest Missouri, the telephone. What would the Hello Girls think about our handheld, take-anywhere cell phones we use today? 

 References:

Online at http://www.historicjoplin.org/?tag=jasper-county-missouri-history.

Online at http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/hello.htm.

Online at Missouri Digital Heritage Initiation, online Missouri Death Certificates 1910-1959; MO Death Cert; Ancestry.com Operations, Inc./https://sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/deathcertificates/:accessed 24 Aug 2014, Lehi, UT USA. 

Wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello Girls.

Website of the Official U.S. Army Signal Corps.